David Behrens

SAM SMITH appeared stirred but not shaken as his highly-anticipated theme tune for the forthcoming film Spectre was unleashed on James Bond fans today.

Fans formed a mixed chorus on Twitter as the latest track, Writing’s on the Wall, was released.

Ajay Chowdhury, from the James Bond International Fan Club, said it “automatically achieved classic Bond song status”. But others compared it to Michael Jackson’s Earth Song, which was panned by critics.

Smith said: “With this song I don’t care about it charting and things like that. I just care about doing the legacy proud.”

The 23-year-old singer joins a pantheon of pop stars who have given voice to Bond title sequences over the last 53 years.

Yet some of the best-known performances have failed to make a dent on the music charts. Shirley Bassey’s 1971 theme, Diamonds Are Forever, remained outside the top 30 in Britain and the top 50 in the US.

Miss Bassey, the only artist to have recorded two Bond themes, also saw her first effort, 1964’s Goldfinger, languish outside the UK top 20.

Carly Simon’s track Nobody Does It Better, from 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me, vies with Duran Duran’s 1985 number A View To A Kill and Paul McCartney’s Live And Let Die from 1973 as the most successful Bond themes in chart terms.